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March 16, 2004

Not Enough Time

Obviously I have not been able to write as much here as I was hoping too. I am going to try and find the time, especially with the world seeming to spiral out of control more rapidly each day. From the bombs in Spain to Alan Greenspan's bomb's about adjustable mortgages and not worrying about debt, to the Bush Administration's daily lies and ravages on science and the environment, nothing seems "right".

I wrote a letter to Jim Cramer of the Street.com in February of 2001 asking what would the next thing be, the thing that keeps the economy going, that keeps stocks going up. My personal theory was that after the S&L boom/bust, and that after the dot com boom/bust that there was no ammo left, that interest rates alone were not going to do it. But, good old "I never met a President I didn't try to keep happy" Greenspan fooled me by continuing to cut and cut until we got our next bubble, the housing bubble.

So here we are now in an economy with relative to no job growth, record productivity, near zero long term rates, near records bankruptcies, record deficits, and with 120,000 troops wondering where the next bomb is coming from. Toss in what is going to be the nastiest election year ever and I think we are ripe for one mighty hang over.

Let me say this - I don't think the "economy" in general is bad - it is just not producing jobs, and in all reality it should not be expected to with the progress and efficiencies that this Web based world now enjoys. Employment is going to be the stickler of this century, for as technology progresses there is just not going to be more for people to do, but less. Now is the time for some bold thinking in this country about shorter work weeks and better compensation. You can't have 6% unemployment with the people that have jobs working 60 hours a week, for crap pay. It doesn't make sense. Someone somewhere has to figure out how to spread it around, how to give people decent living wages, and then give them the time off to spend those wages.

Anyway, I am one of those people who work too much. I can't seem to stop myself. I wish I was here on this site more, writing more and thinking things through, making comments on the things that bug me, etc. I am still managing to read a lot and I suggest you do to, there is so much to stay informed about. Here is my heavy hitters list of blogs - I read them daily:

I think if you stay current with the above you will have a pretty good idea of the things I want to talk about here.